These are the fireworks of the imagination.

Isaiah’s vision, chapter vi, 1, 2:

“I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

“Around it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly,” etc.

Ezekiel, chapter iii: Son of man eats the roll.

Vision of chapter viii: “A fire below the loins, and the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber upwards,” etc.

Chapter ix: “Six men with slaughter weapons, clothed in white linen with a writer’s inkhorn by the side.”

Chapter x: “Above the head of the cherubim there appeared over them as it were a sapphire-stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.” Verse 2: “Go in between the wheels even under the cherub, and fill thine hands with coals of fire,” etc. Verse 4: “And the house was filled with a cloud,” etc. Verse 8: “And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand under their wings.” Verse 9: “Four wheels,” etc. Verse 12: “And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and their wheels were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.” Verse 14: And every one had four faces, the first face was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third that of a lion, the fourth the face of an eagle, etc.

Chapter xxii: Sin.

Chapter xxiii: Whoredoms.

Chapter xxxviii: Boneyard.

Chapter xlvii: Visions of holy waters.

Daniel’s visions, dreams:

Verse 3: Four great beasts came up from the sea. The first was a lion and had eagle’s wings. The second was like a bear, it had three ribs in the mouth between the teeth, etc. The third was like a leopard, and had four wings of a fowl, and had four heads. The fourth a beast dreadful and terrible, strong exceedingly—had great iron teeth—and it had ten horns. A little horn came up; in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, a mouth speaking great things. Throne whereon an ancient sat, the hair of his head like pure wool, garments snow-white, etc.; throne of fiery flame, wheels as burning fire.

Verse 19: “Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast,” etc. His teeth were iron, nails of brass, etc., etc.

Chapter viii: A ram had two horns; one was higher than the other. He saw the ram pushing westward, northward, southward, etc.

Verse 5: A he-goat with a horn between the eyes; the goat smote the ram, broke the two horns, etc.

Zechariah iv: A candlestick all of gold, a hood upon the top of it. Seven lamps thereon, seven pipes to the seven lamps; two olive trees.

Chapter v: Flying roll twenty cubits long, ten cubits broad.

Verse 9: Two women, and the wind was in their wings; they had wings like a stork.

Chapter vi: Four chariots between two mountains of brass. The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot had black horses, the third chariot had white horses, the fourth chariot had grizzled bay horses, etc.

The most prominent men in the Old Testament that were endowed with high imaginative powers, were not many. The most noted among them were Isaiah, 681 B.C.; Ezekiel, 591 B.C.; Daniel, 559 B.C.; Zechariah, 535 B.C. These four visionary gentlemen lived during a very exciting, troublesome period. It was the ending of national life. There were continuous wars, constant changes, invasions, robberies, plunder, and all other barbaric crimes that ordinarily accompany these revolutionary events. Israel was made captive 721 B.C.—the lost ten tribes, as they are called. The conquest of Jerusalem was 606 B.C.; the captivity of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem, 588 B.C.

It must be remembered that all the prophets, so termed, lived during a time of approaching national dissolution, and date from the death of Jonah, 761 B.C., to the death of Nehemiah, 430. These political preachers, agitators, and fault-finders were altogether some twenty in number. And when national life ceased, these prophets ceased. Men of this particular type and character were no longer needed. They had outlived their usefulness. Their national greatness was rapidly disintegrating—short-lived it was. Luxury, licentiousness, and crime; rapacity, internal disorder, factional strife, lack of order and discipline, made them the prey of neighboring nations, that finally proved their destruction. It was not a question of God or Jehovah or idols; it was a question of organization, discipline, and a higher civilization, that wiped the Jews out as a nation. They struggled as long as they could maintain their existence as a nation. They were overpowered and subdued. It is not, therefore, surprising that these men appealed to their patriotism—their moral sense, of which they had but little—and made every endeavor to reform them. The national pride, love of country and patriotism, fired their imagination. They talked, wrote, and scolded in the name of the visionary God in fashion among them, employing the phraseology then in use, giving vent to their feelings, their passions, their lamentations, their dreams, their visions, the product of an over-excited nervous system, mixing poesy, philosophy, and facts indiscriminately; producing a heterogeneous, fantastic creation of the brain, part true, but false as a whole, dovetailed together as the fancy of the moment suggested. These rambling fireworks of the imagination have little meaning and less sense, except that they portray their feelings, emotions, and practical impressions for the time being. Eliminate the facts out of their writings, and you obtain a residue of wild, incoherent ravings of an over-excited, over-heated brain.

We hear nothing of any great mental disturbance or loss of equilibrium, until we reach a new crisis. For nearly four hundred years not a vision, not an angel, not a prophet, is heard of.

The religious disputes, the ecclesiastical quarrels, the heated discussions, the hatred, hostility, and opposition that the differences of opinion engendered, caused considerable nervous irritation, mental excitement, and a display of the imagination. This new religion, this reformation, this new organization, produced no small amount of fermentation. It was all nervous, stimulated to a degree of exaltation, rising in intensity to enthusiasm and religious ecstacy, wherein many varieties of nervous phases were exhibited. St. John was on the isle of Patmos when he wrote his Revelations. He could not have chosen a more suitable spot for his visionary work. An isolated little island situated in the Archipelago near Asia Minor, it is one of the smallest islands in that region. It could certainly not contain many inhabitants. It is surrounded by sea and exceedingly lonely. A man with a highly nervous temperament could almost see anything in that dreamland of melancholy and seclusion. John’s visions resembled those of his predecessors several hundred years previous. But John came four hundred years later, and had the advantage of more culture. Ideas had multiplied, experience had increased, the imagination was amplified. Education had advanced, and the mental faculties were better developed. He had therefore the brain, the opportunity, and a very favorable locality, to dream, to have visions, and to imagine to his heart’s content. He had the material, the impressions, and the state of mind to aid him. Of course we take it for granted that John wrote these Revelations—or some one imagined these things for him.

John wrote to the seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatera, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. None of these places was any considerable distance from Patmos. What he sees:

Chapter i: Seven candlesticks. One was like (verse 13) the Son of Man, clothed in garments down to the feet, girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Verse 14: “His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow.” Verse 15: His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Verse 16: He had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

The second and third chapters are advisory to the seven churches.

In the fourth his imagination takes a great flight.

A more romantic spot to have visions could not be found—about 38° north of the equator, a beautiful sky, mild climate, calm waters, and a solemnity of surroundings that would impress a less imaginative mind. It would have a marvelous effect on an excitable fanatic zealot, brimful with fantastic religious notions. No wonder he beheld the doors of heaven open, and heard a sound of a trumpet—and he was immediately in the spirit; that is, he was either dreaming or in an ecstatic state, and could see all the things he did see with his eyes either closed or open.

He saw a throne. One sat in it. It looked like jasper and sardonyx. And he saw a rainbow like emerald. Round about there were twenty-four seats, wherein twenty-four elders were sitting clad in white raiment, with crowns of gold on their heads. Thunder and lightning came out of the throne. There were seven lamps before the throne, and seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne and round about were four beasts, full of eyes before and behind.

The first beast was like a lion, the second beast was like a calf, the third beast had the face of a man, the fourth beast was a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within.

Chapter v, 6: There stood a lamb with seven horns, seven eyes, seven spirits, etc.

Chapter vi: He saw a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. The first had a crown, the second a sword, the third a pair of balances, on the fourth sat Death and Hell. There were seals opened, etc., etc. The fifth seal was the souls slain by the sword of God. The sixth seal, earthquake, the sun became black and the moon red, and the heavens departed as a scroll, etc.

Chapter vii: He sees four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow, etc. He saw another angel with a seal—for various tribes, etc.—very fanciful, very fantastic, very imaginative.

Chapter viii: The seventh seal opened. Seven angels with seven trumpets standing before God. One angel stood with a golden censer. Five filled the censer with fire. Voices. Thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

Verse 7: The first angel sounded. There followed hail and fire, mingled with blood; trees and green grass were burnt up.

Verse 8: The second angel sounded. A mountain of burning fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood.

Verse 9: A third part of the creatures and a third part of the ships were destroyed.

Verse 10: The third angel sounded. A great star fell from heaven, burning.

Verse 11: The fourth angel sounded. A third part of the sun and moon were smitten, a third part of the stars, etc.

Chapter ix: The fifth angel sounded. A star falls into the bottomless pit. He mixes smoke, locusts, scorpions, torments, horns, battles, crowns of gold.

Verse 7: Faces of men with hair of women and teeth of lions. He sees breastplates of iron. There is sound in the wings, sound in the chariots running to battle, etc., etc.

Verse 17: He sees the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone.

Verse 19: For their power is in their mouths and their tails; and their tails were like unto serpents, etc.

Chapter x, 4: Seven thunders utter voices. John takes the little book out of the angel’s hands, eats it up, and it is as sweet as honey but bitter in his belly.

We pass on through the extravagances of the succeeding chapter to xvi. Seven angels and seven plagues and seven vials of wrath. The first vial of wrath was poured upon earth; the second vial of wrath was poured upon the sea; the third vial of wrath was poured upon rivers and fountains of water; the fourth angel poured his vial upon the sun; the fifth angel poured his vial upon the seat of heat; the sixth angel poured his vial into the river Euphrates, and the waters were dried up, unclean spirits like frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon, etc. The seventh angel poured his vial into air—voices—thunder—lightning.

A more jumbled mass of hysterical nonsense was never concocted by the brain of man.

With this silly twaddle of an over-excited nervous system, he continues to give vent to absurd impulses and perverted impressions of a theoleptic nature.

In chapter xx he sees an angel from heaven having the keys of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Verse 3: “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,” etc., etc. Verse 9: “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Verse 10: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and the false prophets are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever,” etc.

That this so-called revelation is not the product of a healthy brain is self-evident. That John was reveling in the realms of fantasie, while he was laboring under a theological nightmare, is so palpable, that he might almost be accused of being a monomaniac. And that this abominable concoction of absurdities should form the basis of a system of moral education, and be tolerated as a supernatural production, is an outrage on common sense. The whole construction is the fabric of a man bordering on a state of hallucination, where fancy, fact, and fiction are indiscriminately mixed and compounded with the theoleptical effervescence of an almost demented enthusiast.

There is not a particle of sense in the entire twenty-two chapters, except such as refer to earthly particulars. The combination is false in conception, and pernicious in its tendencies. He sees and hears things so glaringly ridiculous that it is really surprising that any sensible preacher can regard the writings in the light of seriousness. It is perhaps as unique an erratic compilation of material substances as was ever produced, based on ignorance, superstition, and a diseased mind. That man, St. John the Divine, had no more conception of the size of this earth or its configuration than he had of electricity, or a steam-engine. Of course I understand that theologians do not—or pretend not to—look upon the statements literally. They may interpret the contents of Revelation from a spiritual point of view, nothing will or can relieve it of its defects. Whatever he meant by his ravings, in those days, they do not contain a particle of practical sense. When he beheld the doors of heaven open and heard a sound of a trumpet, he was immediately in the spirit. Then his mind spliced together thrones of jasper, emerald, seats, elders, white raiment, crowns of gold, seven lamps, seven spirits, a sea of glass, and four beasts full of eyes, a lion, calf, man, eagle, six wings, four horses, death and hell, seven angels, seven vials of wrath, hail, fire, blood, thunder, lightning, brimstone, a bottomless pit, etc., etc. Thoughts were flying through his brain that embraced pretty much all he knew, that he had either heard, read about, or had had some personal experience of, bringing all the things, objects, substances, and phenomena to bear upon his imagination, forming ideas to illustrate his heaven or hell, his saints and sinners, his salvation and his perdition. The mind was in a state of delirious confusion. John’s mind had had a larger experience, his imagination was more amplified and expanded, than the mind and imagination of his predecessors Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. The time and locality were not the same. The burden of John’s thoughts was of a quite different nature. The nervous phenomena of theological excitement and irritation was purely visionary, while those of the Old Testament were largely tainted with the politics of their time. The former writers were loaded down with the expected ruin of their nationality; were filled with patriotism; were hoping and wishing for some one to come and help them out of their dire distress. Their ideas and thoughts led them to flights of imagination within the limits of their knowledge. John was fully charged with the philosophy and teachings of his times, and he mustered all his knowledge to open the gulf between the two extremes of bliss and punishment, the saved and lost. Thus he invented the appearance of heaven, with all the material substances, to exhibit its fearful glory, and showed the interior of his bottomless pit with its darkness, fire and brimstone. All these things might have appeared very terrible to the ignorant fishermen he had to deal with. It may still leave a strongly unpleasant impression on a great many of our ignorant population. Very few sensible people take any stock in John’s incoherent, erratic flight of imagination. It may be regarded as a very curious composition of antiquity—senseless, useless, meaningless; admirable in its way, but nothing more than a production of an overwrought, unbalanced, over-stimulated, and over-exalted imagination.

We may distinctly perceive the progress that had been made in the evolution of the imagination, in the multiplication of ideas, in the amplification of thought, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to David, from David to Isaiah, from Isaiah to John.

The nervous system, the brain, had undergone some modifications among these people, but not of a nature that was likely to be a lasting benefit to humanity. On the contrary, these speculative ideas caused a great deal of friction of thought, bitter quarrels, hatred, crime, and bloodshed.

Neighboring nations, who had neither Jehova nor Christ, revealed to us the light of science that never produced a friction nor a quarrel—being based on eternal truth. From the very beginning of their conception to the present day this remains unchanged, unaltered and untouched, a monument of Truths, an inheritance for all future generations.

The God-Christ-Holy-Ghost idea has ever been a source of greed, selfishness, intolerance, bigotry, quarrel, hatred, licentiousness, cruelty, and crime. Bickering and quarreling are still going on. And the grasping hand of greed holds the ignorant bigot by the throat to squeeze the last cent out of him, to enrich and aggrandize the most pernicious organization humanity was ever plagued with. Heresy, blasphemy, is as fashionable to-day as it was in the rankest days of popery. Fortunately the civil law reigns supreme, otherwise these ecclesiastical monomaniacs would be at each other’s throats. At this stage of scientific civilization, we can afford to look on at the theological quarrels and antics as a result of a nervous craze that is perfectly harmless.

After all it is but the physiological effect of an educational training, the development of the faculties and the evolution of the imagination; the brain functions in proportion to the progress made in the culture in general, harmonizing with the times, circumstances, and conditions of the period in which we live.

Every age has its turn in the evolution of the mental faculties, and it must go through its stage. The visionary period, the result of a theological hallucination of an over-exalted imagination, can occur only under certain favorable conditions, viz., on the one hand a highly susceptible nervous temperament, a strongly biased educational training, and an enthusiastic excitability, and on the other, an ignorant, bigoted, poor, and helpless population.

SHADES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.

FROM BARBARISM TO CIVILIZATION, MULTIPLICITY OF GODS TO NATURE, DARKNESS TO LIGHT.

In modern times, if a man should attempt to rave after the style of John, he would certainly be declared a fit candidate for an insane asylum.

What was possible on the Isle of Patmos by John would be an utter impossibility to-day. It is not because we have not religious fanatics enough, but education, reason, and science have advanced, so that such extravagant fire-works of the imagination would be declared evidence of an insane condition of the mind.

On the following page a diagram of various shading shows the growth of intelligence and enlightenment of the various religious denominations, indicating the beginning of actual progress with the Reformation, and how little there is left of the entire religious fabric that has been handed down these many centuries.

The darkness of ignorance is still hiding the truth. The church is doing its utmost to train the young in the pernicious doctrine of superstition and falsehood of antiquity. The clergy would stop our public school system, if they could drag humanity back into the mire of brutality.

The sooner the Bible, with its God, Jehova, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the prophets and the apostles, with all the angels, heaven, and hell, are placed under a glass case to be viewed and admired as a matter of antique curiosity the better.